Don your favorite bath robe, cream that coffee and get comfortable with this weekend’s SolidSmack Weekend Reader.
This week we saw everything from an exclusive interview with the founder of Frame – which aims to put all of your Windows-based apps in the cloud – to a unique project that blends 3D printing with mold making, how Santa Cruz Bicycles gets their eye-melting colorways and more…
So lay back, relax and take a load off while reading the top ten stories on SolidSmack this past week.
Oh and uh…don’t forget to shed some much-needed sunlight on your face, too.
3D Printing and Molding: A Match Made in Iterative-Fab Heaven
“Molding (the manufacturing process, not the food spoilage one) has been around for a good six millennia, with a cast copper frog from 3200 B.C.E. being among the oldest surviving examples. The technique has adapted along with emergent technology throughout history, up to and including quick-set resins, CAD, and (as you saw here on SolidSmack last Friday) YouTube…”
The Bucket Board: Mac Premo and Don Sanford Make Skateboards from Old Buckets
“Last time we checked in with self-described “Stuffmaker” Mac Premo, the Brooklyn-based multimedia artist, videographer and designer was waxing philosophical about why he creates and why “(being) the arbiter of good stories is to live forever“…”
Daniel Szohatzky’s Handcrafted Geometric Lights Scare the Monsters Away
“Times have certainly changed in the “art nouveau” world which was synonymous with harmonizing the various elements of nature with design…”
It’s Magenta: Talkin’ Color with Santa Cruz Bicycles’ Design Manager Geoff Casey
“Santa Cruz Bicycles produces some of the best carbon fiber mountain bikes in the world. In the past few years they have been leading the industry forward into new colors and clean graphics thanks in no small part to the talents of industrial designer Geoff Casey…”
Tinkerplay is the Posable Robot Making App You (and Your Kids) Will Play for Hours
“It was a sad day when My Robot Nation was gobbled by 3D Systems and subsequently buried on the Cubify website. (You can find it here now: http://cubify.com/en/store/app/JOW97UI59Y.) They were onto something. It’s the first site where I sat down with my kiddos, talked bots, made bots and bought bots…”
Is the Sub-$1,000 Zeni Kinetic 3D Printer the Best Makerbot Replacement?
“The Zeni Kinetic Origin series of 3D printers are Designed for the future. A future where the 3D printer becomes a common appliance in homes and offices. With the Origin series, the Zeni Kinetic is bringing out well-designed and good looking 3D printers at a price range that is much more affordable to most of its competitors’ products…”
NVIDIA Melts Jaguar Cars with Death Rays to Show off Rendering Power
“Innocent automobile drivers out for their Sunday drive in London in the fall of 2013 may have felt the noticeable increase in temperature, the sudden blinding windshield glare and continued motoring down Eastcheap Street with little more than an automatic brief adjustment of the climate control. If they were to stop and peer upward through their sunroofs, a reflection as bright as the day was beaming from the skyscraper affectionately known as the Walkie Talkie…”
New Ultra-Fast, High-Resolution Desktop 3D Printer to Launch on Kickstarter
“It was only a week ago when we got a sneak-peek at Carbon3D’s CLIP Technology which spread like wildfire across the design, engineering and general ‘maker’ community. The company claimed that they are able to print 3D objects between 25 and 100-times faster than more common additive manufacturing techniques including FDM and SLA-based 3D printing. Clearly, the ability to print a high-resolution object on your desktop in minutes (which Carbon3D CEO Joseph DeSimone demonstrated on-stage at the 2015 TED Conference in Vancouver last week) is something that many have been waiting for for years…if not decades…”
Frame Is About to Put All of Your CAD Apps in the Cloud: Our Interview with CEO Nikola Bozinovic
“With all of the recent developments between OnShape, Autodesk’s 360 cloud offerings and even DS’ 3DEXPERIENCE, this truly is an exciting time for MCAD and ultimately, what the near-future holds for millions of users who depend on the software to bring their product designs to life…”
Developing the Hackaball: An Interview with the Designers Behind the Kickstarter Hit
“Often referred to by experts as the M2 Generation, there’s no limit to the amount of time kids aged 6 to 10 will spend playing with apps on various multimedia devices including smartphones and tablets. With this in mind, the designers behind the Hackaball have developed an ingenious learning tool that helps teach kids the programming skills that go into creating some of those apps. Unlike a glossy black touchscreen, this striking ball is made up of two translucent plastic halves that snap together around a layer of silicone…”
